A time capsule of the greatest financial mania in the history of mankind, told in real-time by regular folks and patriots. May future generations better understand the madness of crowds, and how power and money corrupt.

November 04, 2008

I wish you all could see how into the US election people over here are. EVERYONE wants to talk about it (and Bush and Obama) when they hear my yank accent.History is being made tonight HP'ers. I said years ago that the housing crash would be the #1 issue on people's minds and would change everything. And so it will be.

Tell your election day stories here, get on record with any predictions, give us any scoop or insight, and I'll be liveblogging now hopefully through the acceptance and concession speeches (if I can stay up).

OBAMA AND HIS HENCHMEN WILL FINISH WHAT BUSH STARTED. 10 DOLLER GASOLINE (CARBON/ENERGY TAX), HYPERINFLATION, DESTRUCTION OF FREE SPEECH RIGHTS (FAIRNESS DOCTRINE) WEALTH REDISTROBUTION. HEY KEITH YOU SOUND LIKE A MAN WHO HAS HIS MONEY OUTSIDE THE US. NOT CONCERNED ABOUT COMRADE OBAMA, REED, POLOSI AND BIDEN SIEZING YOUR ASSETS TO SPREAD THE WEALTH. AROUND. GOD HELP THE AMERICAN SHEEPLE. THE WOLVES WILL NOT.

I've been telling people for a few years that the housing bubble has altered the demographics in battleground states. The highly populated/educated cities have priced people out of these markets. Those large cities are usually dominated by democrats. Those democrats are now in battleground states.

I think the housing bubble has helped to generate a landslide for Obama.

To celebrate the landslide victory, I went out shooting with my brother, and afterwards over a beer we realized how stupid we both were. We should have taken out a scam mortgage, HELOCed to the hilt, and walked away with enough cash to start a legitimate business.

This website was like an advanced college course in economics and political science. I never posted much, but I am gonna miss this place when it's gone.

I learned so much.

HP was a rare corner of the Internets, with remarkably prescient vision, substance and a terrific sense of humor. While there was always a collection of truly talented minds ready to contribute, credit must be given where credit is due: to Keith, our professor.

I am an Australian, so I have an outsiders perspective. I have seen Obama on the Daily Show (Jon Stewart), which is a political show dressed up as a comedy. I like Obama. I think he has humility, humour and seems well grounded. He understands, at least in part, the gravity of the situation the US (and by extension the world) is in. By contrast, McCain seems like a senile, bumbling, forgetful twit - with far too much in common with the incumbent Bush. Although I am not foolish enough to believe Obama will cure all ills, I do hope he wins, as it's the best chance you guys have (now that Ron Paul is out of the race). I *think* many people in the US have come to the same conclusions.

*A free house for every one.*No one needs to pay their CC Debt, the Uncle Sucker will bail out the CC Companies with taxes*Nationalize the Car Manufactuers,USAFORD< USAGM< USAGMAC< etc.*Tax us into wealth

Flyingmonkey, can they nationalize the car renters too? I'm really sick of walking out to G30 at Hertz rental car in Hartsfield to find my car missing. I then go into a Steve Martin tirade at the front desk....

Yup, all the sheeple are following the shepards--the mainstream media, the Bilderbergs, the Trilateral Trade commission, all following to their Messiah Obama-The Messiah that is being funded by the Saudis and the Muslim terrorists. And the sheeple are following-no questions asked.

If you could buy a 100% electric sports car, zero emissions, 0-60 in 3.9 seconds with 220 mile range: What price would you pay?

That car is a sports car and its available today, but the price is $109,000 from Tesla motors.

GM and Ford must change or die on the vine. Let the banks fail too. Other businesses, with greater vision and inventiveness will just take their rightful place. The market, if we would only let it, has a strange way of sorting out the losers and the winners...violently if necessary.In the end, there are often times new (even replacement) jobs and new economies that come into play.This is a possiblity. I hope.

God that felt good today!!! It was walking in to the voting booth and letting go of an eight year old dump. At the same time, I saw ALL of my stocks and 401K go up. It is almost like the whole world (Europe was a BIG buyer of stocks today) was voting with their wallets at the same time us Americans were voting with our feet and ballot.

Tonight is going to be historic. It is a night to remember. The GOP will be officially killed, and most encumbants will be frog marched out....

The only thing that could make this any better would be for all of the crooks on Wall Street (Angelo, Fuld, Mudd, Perry etc.) to be in handcuffs tomorrow morning. I think one of the first things that the new Obama administration should do is to have the FBI investigate and arrest all of the a$$holes that helped to dismantle the financial system....

Is Obama is the "best" there is? Probably not. I mean, the guy voted in favour of the $700 billion bailout. I just voted my Congressman incumbent John Campbell out of office, for being a douche about the housing market, housing bailout and generally standing toe-to-toe with Bush on every issue.

I voted for Obama today, not because he's the best ever. He has to prove that yet. I voted for him because he is a much better communicator and politician than McCain is. Plus, I'd pick a tough guy from Scranton anyday fpr my team over some Avon Lady in leather boots and Kawasaki eyeglasses.

About the "old farts" "having to get a job". Prior to 2000 there were more Americans working longer and past retirement age because they could afford not to, with high costs of food, drugs, healthcare, secondary education, etc. A lot of families are working harder and longer than they ever did just 10 years ago. The wealth of Americans is as bad as ever. It could get worse too, unless some really unpopular moves are made regarding income taxes at the federal and state level. The US cannot keep borrowing to infinity. It can't keep fighting incessant foreign wars that reap no discernable economic benefit at home or political benefit abroad.All must change. America will become isolationist in its foreign policy (it has no choice) and it will become more self-sufficient economically (it has no choice). We don't make anything anymore. We need to start making shit and selling it here (and then abroad).

Guess it's time for Miss Sarah to donate her clothes. Gonna be tough for her schlepping back to the brutal cold in November. She sure do like them hairstylists, makeup artists, personal shoppers and armies of assistants, the attention, the calls from European heads of state (or, at least that's what they call themselves on the phone).

It's hard to go back. She'll be in there swinging for 2012, no way is she going to be happy with a less glam life.

It is interesting to see that all the bible thumpers and right wingers are getting defensive on just about every blog on the internet. This is not going to just be a wave of change, this is going to be a super-tsunami. The more enraged the right wing nuts get, the more you can sense the fear. They just can't stand having someone in power they can't control or predict.

This will be the new millenium's Kennedy. Many of the right wingers say that Kennedy accomplished nothing. Hmmm, I wonder what decade we walked on the moon? I wonder who contained the Cuban missle crisis? I wonder what generation was undoubtedly one of the most fundamentally changed? Oh and lets not even mention the properity that was enjoyed during the Kennedy years.

Let's just hope that the nuts are not able to get Obama the way that they ended the Kennedy years. Once that nut Linden Johnson was in power, we got Veitnam, and the war mongers were back in charge. We all know what happened then....

Come on Keith. You're letting down your "fan" base who think that you're intelligent. Why not list Obama's accomplishments. Just wipe the cheetos off your keyboard and type a little. Palin wasn't a good choice in my opinion, but the arguement that she isn't qualified falls short when considering the lack of qualifications of your own candidate for PRESIDENT. The VP isn't that important, which is a good thing for Biden. We'll all be waiting for your list of the following:

*Obama's legislative accomplishments*Obama's executive experience*One instance where Obama stood up to his own party

We're waiting Keith. Rachel Maddow is always going to be a dyke, even if you beg her to love you. We're waiting...

This country is starring down the double-barrel of a major economic depression and financial collapse of the government, and of the top 100 most important, critical and essential things to do and worry about, the preservation of heterosexual marriage shouldn't even make the list.

I mean today 67% of marriages in California end in divorce. Where are these protesters during divorce hearings as wealth is eliminated, public funds are wasted in courts of law, attorneys fees, not to mention the social cost of splitting up families and ripping childhoods apart. I say don't discriminate and allow the homosexuals suffer marriage along with the rest of us.

This country is starring down the double-barrel of a major economic depression and financial collapse of the government, and of the top 100 most important, critical and essential things to do and worry about, the preservation of heterosexual marriage shouldn't even make the list.---------------------------------

obama is against same sex marriage, so I am voting obama and against 8.

Keith, its a pleasure to be on your live blogging event. I'll be watching the coverage on my TV upstairs, but wanted to let you know THANK YOU for all the great HP stuff..keep it going, you know its worthwhile!

Mmmmm...yeah, I sure wish Bush could change the Consitution and hang around for another 4 or 8 years. Start a few more wars and drain our entire surplus into a bottomless blackhole of nothingness. Write a few $87.16 tax rebate checks or something. Hell, we're all just rolling in the money these days, let me tell ya. Wealth! Is that what we have today? I mean, first I gotta know what I have before Obama and his "lib" buddies take it all away from me.

Have you seen the video of one of your heroes supporters getting ready to have her gas and mortgage paid for once he gets elected so lets get ready and shut down some coal plants and pay those mortgages and fill those tanks because the O man is going to get it done.

Right..let's blame Bush for destroying that wealth. Too bad he didn't shut down Barney Frank and Chris Dodd as they pushed to destroy Fannie and Freddie. He really should have grown the gov't faster...that would create more wealth. More regulation...bring it on!! Darnit, Bush governed like a lib! Nuts!

I hope you're joking.... that's with less than 2% of the precincts reporting and only 3 small conservative counties. Wait till Loudoun, Fairfax, and Arlington report till you call anything a trouncing. That's like calling CA based on OC.

In fact, here's a New York Times story from September 2003, clearly showing that the first substantive Fannie and Freddie reform from inside government came from the Bush administration. Spurred by worries that Fannie and Freddie were cooking their books and taking too many risks, Treasury Secretary John Snow proposed placing the companies under Treasury oversight with strict controls over risk and capital reserves. The NYT labeled the proposal "the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago" and noted:

Mr. Snow said that Congress should eliminate the power of the president to appoint directors to the companies, a sign that the administration is less concerned about the perks of patronage than it is about the potential political problems associated with any new difficulties arising at the companies.

So five years ago, there was one of those rare moments in Washington when the branches and personalities of government—in this case, the Bush administration—are less interested in protecting or expanding their turf than in fixing a looming catastrophe. What was Frank's response to the proposal?

"These two entities—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—are not facing any kind of financial crisis," said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

As Frank mentions in his press release today, two years after it was first proposed, the House finally voted on a bill reforming the mortgage giants. Alas, the legislation was watered down to the point of being meaningless—that's why it passed the House with such wide margins (122 Democrats and 209 Republicans). But even then, and despite his high regard for bipartisanship now, Barney Frank wasn't among the yeas.

That said, watch OH and VA flip to Obama. Those are the first big tells. IN will be interesting, might not know that state for a few days. The Gary area results always come in way late too vs. the rural white areas

The networks are covering this as if Obama is likely to sweep in with wins in VA, NC, IN, etc.WTFThat would be an overwhelming victory.The American sheeple are not capable of that. The media should be on pins and needles about how close this election is. I predict McCain wins VA, NC and IN, and this thing goes deep into the night to count CO, NM, and NV before McCain declares victory. The Bradley/Wilder effect is alive and well in the USA.Howdy y'all.

Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.In the cross hairs of the campaign carried out by DCI of Washington were Republican senators and a regulatory overhaul bill sponsored by Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. DCI's chief executive is Doug Goodyear, whom John McCain's campaign later hired to manage the GOP convention in September.

Unknown to the senators, DCI was undermining support for the bill in a campaign targeting 17 Republican senators in 13 states, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The states and the senators targeted changed over time, but always stayed on the Republican side.

take a look on cnn's website and compare the polled numbers against actual. it is still too early but there is a potential troubling trend. Polling numbers are significantly higher for obama than the actuals coming in.

The Bradley Wilder effect is an interesting theory for 2008. The fact is this "effect" isn't operating in a vaccum. America has changed culturally since the days of Mayor Bradley, David Dinkins and Jesse Jackson.

Pennsylvania, holy mother of God, just went Obama.

I mean, if there's any evidence that Bradley Wilder effect is dead, Pennsylvania just gonged that show.

from the article:Freddie Mac's problems began when Hagel's legislation won approval from the Senate committee.

Democrats did not like the harshest provision, which would have given a new regulator a mandate to shrink Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae by forcing them to sell off part of their portfolios. That approach, the Democrats feared, would cut into the ability of low- and moderate-income families to buy houses.

The political backdrop to the debate "was like bizarre-o-world," said the second of three people familiar with the program. "The Republicans were pro-regulation and the Democrats were against it; it was upside down."

Sen. Richard Shelby, the committee chairman at the time, underscored that in a statement Wednesday, saying that with Democrats already on their side, it was not surprising that Freddie Mac and Freddie Mae went after Republicans. "Unfortunately," said Shelby, R-Ala., "efforts then to derail reform were successful."

In a sign of bad things to come, Freddie Mac was already having serious problems in 2005. Auditors had exposed massive accounting issues, so improved regulation was one obvious remedy.

PLUS:top three recipients of campaign contributions from Fannie:

Dodd: $165KObama: $126KKerry: $111K

Current members of Congress have received a total of $4.8 million from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with Democrats collecting 57 percent of that.

Oh bitterrenter.... my backwards worldview just so happens to be a worldview that enjoys capitalism, promotes personal responsibility, and values the sanctity of human life. Shame on me.

You really should just sit down, take out your laminated Keith Olberman poster, and start your preparations for the January unveiling of the new USSA. Winning an election on the backs of the cigarette craving homeless. You should be proud. Perhaps Barry will send you a welfare check so you can get a better apartment.

"I'm also interested in Franken winning. Man, that'll be hilarious. A comedian. Who'd have thunk?"

Right, then Bill O'Reilly gets motivated to run for Minnesota's other senate seat next election and O'Reilly & Franken struggle each other to death on the senate floor. Replaces the caning incident in the history books ...

PA was a must win for BO. If it went to MC you could have gone to bed.Stay tuned for VA. If BO wins it...go to bed.NC for BO...go to bed.OH or IN for BO...go to bed.Otherwise it'll be a long night.Cheers to an early bedtime.

Ya know, Palin is gonna be a total bitch about this whole thing. Probably steaming and ranting right now, pissed that Todd won't be first dude any time soon. Blaming McCain. Pissed she can't be parading her kid around (in a $100 jumper) like a morality prop anymore.

Won't be gracious, ask for unity, or anything someone who really gives a shit about the country would say. Instead something like 'you betcha I'll keep fightin' for the REAL America' and "I'll be protectin' REAL American values'.

Wrong. This is the best thing that could have happened for Palin. Now she gets to take some PolySci and Econ and History courses at her local community college and get ready for 2012.

She has to give back all the clothes though. And I think the IRS might come knocking for some taxes on that loot. But all in all, she made out pretty well. Probably will write a book or host a TV show to make some coin.

2012 for the GOP will be a civil war (again). Palin on the kooky right religious whacko side, and Romney on the Big Business low taxes low spending Reagan side.

But Obama beats 'em by an even bigger margin that he beats McCain tonight.

"A million-person celebration in a park, versus a few people gathered in a stuffy old hotel ballroom."

Yo Keith: the Biltmore in Phoenix is NOT some stuffy old conference center. It's seriously nice diggs. Guess they ran out of money to spend on their own senators fighting for their lives, but boy, they had the dough to eat well tonight (or cry in their $200 bottles of red).

Well, we should be careful calling North Carolina too soon. Only 19% of precincts are in at this moment, and Hagan is only leading by a pututive nine-point lead. Still, I think Hagan has it locked up, and Obama has a very good chance of winning the state as well.

I'm prepared for any outcome. On my right I've got a gallon bottle of Jack Daniels, an 8oz. bottle of geritol, a loaded pistol, and my latest 401k statement.On my left I've got a case of OE800, a bag of rock, a loaded pistol, and a stack of tonights losing lottery tickets.

On MSNBC, my slingbox is down and they're the only one streaming. CNN has crap B team stuff. Fox has nothing

Looks like Fox just called NM for Obama

Believe it or not that's big since it's the first 2004 Bush state to flip. 13 more electorals vs. 2004 now and it's Obamas. He can get that with Virginia (or Ohio, or Florida, or the CO/NV combo, or hell he can take 'em all for a cakewalk)

The vote comes out early in Obama's favour because of all the early votes he got out. I'm not saying he's at risk here, but you have to wait until a good half of the vote is in with all the early ones so skewed to Obama.